


ladymaladroit is typing...

by sagansjagger



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng Fluff, Chatting & Messaging, Discord - Freeform, F/M, Identity Reveal, Internet, Internet Famous
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 08:09:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27690106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sagansjagger/pseuds/sagansjagger
Summary: Marinette didn’t know what she expected.She was browsing reddit in her room one Saturday afternoon, trying to ignore the extremely-active r/mlfanfiction sub, when she stumbled upon a link to a Discord server devoted to Miraculous Fanworks.What?Apparently run by The Real Chat Noir.What.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 40
Kudos: 277





	ladymaladroit is typing...

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Squishysib](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squishysib/gifts).



Marinette didn’t know what she expected. 

She was browsing reddit in her room one Saturday afternoon, trying to ignore the extremely-active r/mlfanfiction sub, when she stumbled upon a link to a Discord server devoted to Miraculous Fanworks. 

What?

Apparently run by The Real Chat Noir. 

What.

Marinette frowned deeply. _That’s super sus. And sounds just like something he would do._

She sighed and logged into Discord. She had a username, of course, clumsyklutz#2304, but she didn’t think that would give her away as Marinette. Millions of Parisians were clumsy. And the likelihood of The Real Chat Noir, whomever he was, connecting her Discord name to Marinette was zilch.

Heck, he probably wouldn’t even recognize her as Ladybug. She may as well have some fun with this.

→ Welcome, ladymaladroit. We hope you brought pizza.

The #start-here channel was fairly straightforward. The seven rules--including “act like a hero,” no personal attacks; tag NSFW content; no ship-bashing--were all simple to understand. She read them through twice.

As Marinette was neither a Writer, Reader, Cosplayer, or Roleplayer, she selected the Artist role from the five roles offered, opening up the rest of the channels to her. There were… a lot of channels, so many she was almost overwhelmed.

And then she started getting pings. Her computer blew up with notifications from #general-chat; the channel soon had a little red icon indicating that she had 6 messages where someone had tagged her waiting for her.

 **tulips are great:** @ladymaladroit hiiiii, welcome to the server  
**my favorite juice is mimosa:** Hello. Welcome to Miraculous Fanworks, @ladymaladroit.  
**Ladynoir Fan:** heyyyy, it’s good to see you, @ladymaladroit!  
**angry witch:** hi, @ladymaladroit! welcome to the server!  
**”Server Dad” Sass:** Welcome to the server, LadyMaladroit. :) How did you find us?  
**ladymaladroit** : Hi. Thanks for the warm welcome. I found you on reddit. 

Marinette was immediately greeted with a flood of even more “hi!”s and “hello!”s and even a gif of Ladybug winking at her. “Server Dad” Sass offered her a tour, and launched into a prerecorded message explaining all the channels where she could find support for her various creative projects, like #writing-chat, #art-chat, and #cosplay-chat. 

Marinette was impressed by all the server-wide events Chat had set up. The server boasted monthly, themed fanfiction exchanges; Ask Me Anythings, where an artist, writer, or cosplayer was featured and answered questions; and giveaways for the server’s one year anniversary including physical rewards like emblem patches and virtual ones like free months of Nitro.

 _They even have a book club with weekly discussions?_ Marinette thought, floored by the organization of the server. _Chat--if it is Chat--really put a lot of work into this._

 _#mod-chat_ :

 **the real chat noir** : GUYS  
**the real chat noir** : GUYS  
**the real chat noir** : GUUUUUUYS  
**ladyblogger:** what  
**TMNTmichelangelo:** jeez, what?  
**the real chat noir:** SHE’S HERE  
**ladyblogger:** this again?  
**”Head Bro in Crying” Sobby:** That’s what you say every week, Chat. :eyeroll:  
**the real chat noir:** no no no no no no y’all don’t get it, this is really her  
**the real chat noir** trust me on this. she’s here. she used a nickname only I would know sahjshkaskbja  
**”Server Dad” Sass:** LadyMaladroit? You sure?  
**the real chat noir:** yessssssssss  
**dopeydusty:** You should talk to her, Chat.  
**the real chat noir:** noooooooooo

Over the next few hours, Marinette engaged in playful, spirited debates about which Miraculous was the coolest, enjoyed the fanart of heroes in the #original-fanart channel--so many talented people, she thought--and tested out the gorgeous custom emojis Chat had apparently commissioned.

She had, however, seen no sign of Chat Noir, even though she could see his acid-green username at the very top of the member list, under the heading Guardian. Guardians, Holders, and Kwamis were the mods, tiered in order of level of management required. From the green circle under his name, Chat was clearly active on Discord, just not in the channels on his server she was frequenting.

Marinette wondered once again if this was the real Chat and if he’d recognized her. _He should have._ And if he had, why wasn’t he talking to her?

_He’s probably not the real Chat. Pity._

_#mod-chat:_

**the real chat noir:** she’s not leaving i am so screwed  
**”Head Bro in Crying” Sobby:** Almost like she likes it here, Chat.  
**the real chat noir:** why would she like it here  
**dopeydusty:** IDK because the server is awesome??  
**the real chat noir:** I was being facetious  
**the real chat noir:** but also I have a problem with low self-worth  
**TMNTmichelangelo:** we know, dude, but the server is worth talking in  
**ladyblogger:** hubs is right, you’ve worked hard for this place and it’s great  
**the real chat noir:** <3 thanks, guys. you have all worked hard, too; i appreciate you  
**”Server Dad” Sass:** So are you gonna talk to her?  
**the real chat noir:** . . . . 

For another hour, Marinette gave sewing tips in #cosplay-help. She was encouraged by so many budding cosplayers and happy to offer tips on where to source fabric, how to avoid snapping needles, and recommendations on sewing machines. She in turn learned a lot about wigs and proper make up. 

Marinette next browsed the #writing-prompts channel. She wasn’t a writer and most of the prompts were skeevy given that they shipped her and Chat, but some of them, especially the Gen ones, had her sighing with how cute they were.

Marinette was just about to sign off for the night when someone called undermyfathersthumb#6177 direct messaged her.

 **undermyfathersthumb**  
This is the beginning of your direct message history with **@undermyfathersthumb**.

 **undermyfathersthumb:** bugaboo? is that you?

 _Ah,_ Marinette thought triumphantly. _He did recognize me._

 **clumsyklutz:** Nice server you’ve got here, Chat.  
**undermyfathersthumb:** thanks i think  
**undermyfathersthumb:** are you mad?  
**clumsyklutz:** Not really. Should I be?  
**undermyfathersthumb:** maybe?  
**undermyfathersthumb:** i haven’t given my identity away to anyone if thats what you’re worried about  
**clumsyklutz:** That’s good to hear, Chat.  
**undermyfathersthumb:** so uh i um are you staying?

Marinette smiled. Her poor Kitty. He had such a low self-worth. 

What harm would it be to be on a Discord server with Chat Noir? It’s not like either of them were going to give their identities away. And she’d had fun on the server today. She didn’t consider it a second home yet, but the members were welcoming and she’d had a lot of enjoyable conversations. 

She made up her mind.

 **clumsyklutz:** Yeah.  
**undermyfathersthumb:** oh that’s the coolest  
**undermyfathersthumb:** _you_ are the coolest  
**undermyfathersthumb:** thanks, lb  
**undermyfathersthumb:** you won’t be disappointed  
**clumsyklutz:** You’re welcome. Good night, Kitty.  
**undermyfathersthumb:** good night, pawsome

After she’d showered, Marinette wrapped her arms around her pillow in bed and sighed happily. _Joining his server should just be fun. It won’t change anything between us. Anything at all._

***

As the weeks passed, Marinette found talking with Chat on Discord more and more enjoyable. He was always respectful of her time, never DMing her for long, and cutting down on the puns after she’d expressed her exasperation with him.

And engaging with him on the server was fun, too. Chat didn’t know a whole lot about cosplay, but he was always supportive of everyone attempting to put an outfit together. He was cheerful and always had a kind word to say to everyone in #general-chat, often presiding over the multiple love fests where people showered each other with appreciative words. 

But it was clear he ruled his mod team with an iron fist. Toxicity was banned except in #salted-caramel, and even then it was highly regulated. The channels were well-organized and he and the mod team put a lot of thought into policy changes. 

Seeing Chat be a leader was… ridiculously attractive. He was no nonsense and did not tolerate anyone hurting anyone else, and his mod team was effective and compassionate. They kept an eye on the chat and directed traffic, shutting down negative situations before they escalated with a firm but gentle hand.

Marinette was sitting in class one day, pondering over whether Chat would offer to let her apply for the mod team soon, when her teacher drew her attention.

“Adrien, Marinette, would you be willing to work together on a group project?” 

Adrien turned around in his seat, beaming widely. “Sure!”

Heat bloomed in Marinette’s cheeks. She squeaked out a nonsense reply. She decided that words had failed her, so she simply nodded.

“Wonderful,” the teacher said, and paired up the rest of the students.

After the rest of the students and the teacher had filtered out of the classroom, Adrien approached Marinette with a slip of paper. “Hey, Marinette, I was wondering if you wanted to talk on Discord tonight? Here’s my username.”

Marinette took the slip of paper and unfolded it. 

What she saw made her blood run cold: undermyfathersthumb#6177.

“Are you okay?” Adrien said, placing a firm hand on her shoulder, as if to hold her up. “You look pale.”

Marinette drew a breath through her nose. “Chat Noir,” she said, fixing him with a fierce glare. “You did _not_ just reveal your identity to me.”

Now it was Adrien’s turn to pale. “What?”

She seized his collar and dragged his head down to her height. “Miraculous Fanworks?”

Adrien worked his mouth, stammering a little. “You’re on the server?” He stared at her with wide eyes, and then dropped his voice to a whisper. “LB?”

Marinette knew she had to act fast. She kissed the corner of his mouth. “How’s that for a mod application?”

Adrien glowed as red as a traffic light. Then a slow, sly smile curved his lips. “Sorry, LB, I can’t be biased. You’ll have to apply like everyone else and I’ll have to discuss your application with the rest of the mod team.”

Marinette narrowed her eyes playfully. “You can’t date a Holder, can you?”

Adrien sucked a breath over his teeth. “We’d have to maintain a professional relationship on the server, but if you wanted to date, I’m sure that could be arranged.”

“So can I apply to be your girlfriend?”

Adrien grinned from ear to ear and pointed to the corner of his mouth. “That would require another application.”

Giggling, Marinette kissed him.

**Author's Note:**

> That server you just read about? Yeah, that's real. This fic is a shameless advertisement for the [Miraculous Fanworks](https://discord.gg/mlfanworks) Discord server.
> 
> We are always welcoming new members, and would love to see you. We offer a variety of conversations, from fic discussions to writing support to fanfiction prompts. We even have monthly server-wide events and group writing projects! 
> 
> Come join today!
> 
> \---
> 
> Follow me on tumblr at [@sing-in-me-oh-muse](https://sing-in-me-oh-muse.tumblr.com)!


End file.
